apostolicity

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. The quality of being apostolic, notably of preserving authenticity within the mission and tradition of the Christian church as founded by Jesus Christ and his twelve original Apostles, through their representatives and successors in the papacy and episcopate.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. The quality of being apostolic; one of the four qualities of the true church as given in the Constantinopolitan Creed, a. d. 381, namely, unity, sanctity, catholicity, apostolicity.

Etymologies

From apostolic +‎ -ity, after French apostolicité. (Wiktionary)

Examples

This notion preserved the unique personal importance of the Apostles, guaranteed the apostolicity, that is, the truth of the Church's faith, and formed a dogmatic justification for the authority already attained by the bishops.

A further strand acknowledges the 'dynamic nature of tradition', and develops the notion of apostolicity in an eschatological direction, where it becomes more important to consider the church's apostolic witness not just in terms of historical perspective but as a sign of a redeemed creation.

The characteristic traits of the Church which Bede sought to underline are: catholicity, seen as faithfulness to tradition while remaining open to historical developments, and as the search for 'unity in diversity', ... and apostolicity and 'Romanitas'.

Every diocesan bishop should promote in the Church entrusted to him unity in plurality, catholicity in the sense of openness to the universal Church, as well as the apostolicity that implies complementarity between institution and charism.

The "pedigree" approach is only useful as a testimony to this larger conception of apostolicity--a witness by other bishops that, yes, this bishop and this local church have preserved and handed on "apostolic faith."

I think it was suggested that I might speak about the oneness of the church, or about the holiness of the church, or about the catholicity of the church, or possibly about the apostolicity of the church.

What would St John have said if someone had tapped him as he lay against Jesus 'shoulder at the Last Supper and said' Would you like to explain to me something about the oneness, the holiness, the catholicity, and the apostolicity of the apostolic band around the table? '

And to see the nature of the church in these terms is, I believe, to be liberated from any idea that the oneness, the holiness, the catholicity, the apostolicity of the church are either characteristics that we possess in our own right, or even goals that we can plan for.